Archived: Eastleigh Dental Practice

We carried out an announced comprehensive inspection on 7 October 2015 to ask the practice the following key questions; Are services safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led?

Our findings were:

Are services safe?

We found that this practice was providing safe care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services effective?

We found that this practice was providing effective care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services caring?

We found that this practice was providing caring services in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services responsive?

We found that this practice was providing responsive care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Are services well-led?

We found that this practice was providing well-led care in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Background

Eastleigh Dental Practice is located in Cheam, in the London Borough of Sutton. The premises are in a residential property, with the practice located on two floors; patient areas are located on the ground floor only. The practice consists of two treatment rooms (one currently not being used as it is awaiting refurbishment), a decontamination room, a waiting area and reception and a patient toilet. There are also staff toilet facilities, a staff kitchen and offices located on the first floor.

The practice provides mostly private dental services, with a contract to provide a small number of patients with NHS services. The practice offers a range of dental services including routine examinations and treatment, veneers, crowns, bridges, dentures and oral hygiene.

The practice is open from 9am-5.30pm on Monday; 9am-6pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and 9am-2pm on Friday. The practice offers appointments on a Saturday where required.

The staff structure of the practice consists of two principal dentists; two dental nurses and a receptionist. One of the principal dentists is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as a registered manager. A registered manager is a person who is registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to manage the service. Like registered providers, they are ‘registered persons’. Registered persons have legal responsibility for meeting the requirements in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 and associated Regulations about how the practice is run.

We spoke with three patients on the day of our inspection and received nine completed CQC comment cards. Patients we spoke with, and those who completed CQC comment cards, were very positive about the care they received from the practice. They were complimentary about the friendly and caring attitude of the dental staff.

Our key findings were:

• The practice had good decontamination procedures for dental equipment and thorough checks of the decontamination equipment were carried out.

• Patients’ needs were assessed and care was planned in line with current guidance such as from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

• The practice ensured staff maintained the necessary skills and competence to support the needs of patients.

• Patients were very positive about their care; they felt listened to, involved in their care and found practice staff helpful and friendly.

• From reviewing comments cards and speaking to patients, we found that all patients felt that they received an excellent and efficient service.

• The practice provided a responsive service; patients were able to access emergency appointments on the day they needed them.

• The practice had a stable leadership structure and staff told us they were well supported by the management team.

• The practice completed a range of risk assessments to identify health and safety risks and regular servicing was undertaken for most equipment.
• We found that the governance arrangements including management of risks, policies and procedures and learning and improving from incidents and accidents were in place.

• Improvements could be made to ensure dental care records were maintained in accordance with current national guidance.

There were areas where the provider could make improvements and should:

• Review the practice's protocols for completion of dental care records giving due regard to guidance provided by the Faculty of General Dental Practice regarding clinical examinations and record keeping.

• Review the security of prescription pads in the practice and ensure there are systems in place to track and monitor their use.

• Review the systems for monitoring and recording stock and X-ray equipment checks.

• Review the practice’s sharps procedures giving due regard to the Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013.

• Review the risk arrangements and management of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health to demonstrate compliance with the COSHH 2002 regulations.

• Review the practice’s infection control procedures and protocols giving due regard to guidelines issued by the Department of Health - Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in primary care dental practices and The Health and Social Care Act 2008: ‘Code of Practice about the prevention and control of infections and related guidance’.
• Review audit protocols to document learning points that are shared with all relevant staff and ensure that the resulting improvements can be demonstrated as part of the audit process.